Inspire is the first multi-family dwelling in Seattle adhering to the Living Building Pilot Program, Petal Certification for reduced energy and water usage. A code modification was required to permit more efficient HRV usage with lower-than-required ventilation rates. Inspire was granted a FAR (floor area ratio) bonus as incentive for program compliance.
Marion Green Courtyard Townhomes is a new form of urban townhouse that utilizes a structured lid built over the top of surface parking, creating a pedestrian entry courtyard shared by all of the housing units. This new archetype mitigates the aesthetic impacts of parking areas, increases usable open space, and facilitates chance interaction to help build familiarity and community among neighbors. Gaining approval for this approach was a 7-year effort including lobbying for changes to the zoning code, then working with city agencies to resolve code compliance issues associated with the new building archetype.
This sustainable community development of 16 homes used innovative Diamond Pier precast pin foundations to virtually eliminate soil disturbance and storm-water impacts on their hydrologically sensitive site, as a result, no excavation & grading permit was required. By implementing this technology as part of a low-impact development strategy for the whole development, Clearwater commons navigated a path to compliance that protected their watershed, while allowing more homes, that were more affordable than would have been possible with other low-impact development strategies
American Assets Trust developed this mixed-use three-building project that spans four blocks as part of Portland’s Lloyd EcoDistrict. The three buildings share one of the largest natural organic recycling treatment systems in the US, which treats all the buildings’ wastewater (including human waste from toilets) for reuse for toilet flushing, mechanical cooling and below surface landscape irrigation in an urban setting. It was permitted as a Water Pollution Control Facility with two on-site injection dry wells. The project showcases the economic and ecological benefits of district scale onsite wastewater treatment and reuse.
The Blakeley Manor project was one of several similar projects consisting of a full exterior wall rehabilitation to improve building envelope performance of an existing 4-story 70-unit senior housing facility owned and managed by the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA). Existing exterior wall cladding of stucco installed over wire lath and building paper was removed and replaced with an innovative assembly of new plywood sheathing, continuous, higher density mineral wool insulation covered with fiber cement siding to provide 1-hr fire rating for both “outside-in” and between floors. This was reviewed and approved through a code modification request.
Ankeny Row is an environmentally-friendly, socially engaging cohousing community in Portland, Oregon with five townhomes, a loft apartment and a community hall surrounding a central courtyard. A Passive House development with a net-zero energy goal, the buildings use an airtight super-insulated building envelope, innovative heat recovery ventilation and passive solar strategies to sharply reduce energy demand. Extended 48” deep eaves that shade the large south facing windows on the topmost floor, and a combustible material wood deck were approved after two successful code appeals, by including fire sprinkler protection.
Yobi offers an alternative kind of apartment living enriched by community, affordability and location. Architect David Neiman created 45 micro units designed around shared common spaces that provide opportunities for chance encounters, which supports social connectedness, site efficiency and sustainability. Unfortunately, since the completion of the project, the city of Seattle changed the requirements making congregate housing significantly more difficult or impossible to build.
